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I'l 


DEC  10  1987 


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I'M 


THE  CANNON-BALL  TREE 

THE  MONKEY-POTS 

»HE  UBRRHH  Bf  m 
APR  15  1S25 


Published  by 
FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 

1924 


LIST  OF  BOTANICAL  LEAFLETS  ISSUED  TO  DATE 

No.  1.  Figs     .     .     .     .  ' $  .10 

No.  2.  The  Coco  Palm .10 

No.  3.  Wheat 10 

No.  4.  Cacao        10 

No.  5.  A  Fossil  Flower 10 

No.  6.  The  Cannon  Ball  Tree 10 

D.  C.  DAVIES 

DIRECTOR 

FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 
CHICAGO,  U.  S.  A. 


THE  mum 

OF  THE 

•"-■■7   :  ;  . 


Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  Lang 


Figure  1 
FRUITS  OF   THE  CANNON-BALL  TREE 


m  mm) 

i  APR  15  1925 

^JNlVERSlTf  @F  EUNOIB 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

DEPARTMENT  OF  BOTANY 
Chicago,  1924 

Leaflet  Number  6 

THE  CANNON-BALL  TREE 

The  Cannon-ball  tree^  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
of  the  many  remarkable  forest  trees  of  the  South 
American  tropics.  In  general  aspect  and  habit  of 
gro\\i;h  it  bears  some  resemblance  to  a  large  elm, 
though  with  larger  leaves  massed  at  the  tips  of  the 
slender  twdgs.  It  is,  however,  distinguished  from  all 
other  trees  by  the  tangle  of  crooked  branches  which 
surround  the  lower  part  of  its  trunk.  In  the  flower- 
ing and  fruiting  state  it  is  an  extraordinary  sight. 

The  foliage  is  borne  mostly  overhead  by  the  as- 
cending limbs  which  reach  toward  the  light.  The 
lower  leafless  branches,  bent  and  curved  in  many 
directions,  terminate  in  clusters  of  buds  and  showy 
flowers  and  are  in  addition  usually  laden  with  large 
globular  fruits.  It  is  the  size  and  appearance  of  the 
fruits  that  have  given  to  the  tree  its  conmion  name. 
Indeed,  they  can  best  be  described  by  comparing  them 
to  rusty  cannon-balls.  The  ground  around  the  base 
of  the  tree  is  generally  littered  with  fallen  fruits  and 
their  remains  in  various  stages  of  decay.  These  give 
off  an  unmistakable  corpse-like  odor,  which  on  closer 
acquaintance  with  this  tree  is  found  to  be  characteris- 
tic also  of  the  freshly  cut  wood. 

The  flowers  are  unusual  in  shape  and  appear  at 
first  sight  to  be  somewhat  orchid-like,  though  too  large 
and  too  brilliantly  hued  to  sustain  the  resemblance  on 
closer  inspection.  Their  fleshy  petals  are  salmon  pink 
to  crimson   madder   in   color   on   the  inner   surface, 


1.  Couroupita  guianensis  AubL 

[57] 


2  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

white  with  a  dash  of  yellow  on  the  outside.  The  pe- 
culiar and  characteristic  feature  of  the  flower  is  seen 
to  be  a  curved,  hood-like  structure,  glistening  white, 
terminating  in  a  pink-tinted  fringe.  It  is  an  exten- 
sion of  the  fleshy  disk  which  bears  the  stamens,  and 
functions  as  an  annex  or  auxiliary  to  it.  Several  hun- 
dred small  stamens  are  closely  set  on  the  disk  sur- 
rounding the  low  pistil;  as  many  more,  somewhat 
larger  ones,  are  borne  on  the  inner  surface  of  the  tip 
of  this  recurved  hood  overhanging  the  others.  The 
large  black  bumble-bees  that  visit  the  flowers  force 
their  way  under  the  tip  of  the  hood,  between  the  two 
sets  of  stamens,  and  become  thoroughly  dusted  with 
pollen. 

The  flowering  of  the  cannon-ball  tree  is  said  to 
be  almost  continuous,  but  in  Guiana  an  abundance  of 
flowers  is  found  early  in  the  year  when  the  fruits  on 
the  tree  measure  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter.  These 
are  the  fruits  of  the  preceding  year,  which,  requiring 
some  eighteen  months  to  ripen,  remain  on  the  tree 
till  the  new  crop  of  fruit  is  well  advanced. 

The  old  fruits  have  a  rough,  leathery  exterior  cov- 
ering a  thin  woody  shell.  This  is  filled  with  a  juicy 
pulp  in  which  the  seeds  are  imbedded.  The  fresh  pulp 
is  stated  in  some  botanical  works  to  be  of  an  agreeable 
flavor  and  is  said  (in  spite  of  the  odor)  to  be  used  by 
the  natives  for  a  cooling  medicinal  drink.  The  seeds 
are  not  considered  edible. 

J.  E.  Warren,  in  a  book  on  "Para,  or  Scenes  and 
Adventures  on  the  Banks  of  the  Amazon",  quotes  a 
French  writer  on  the  tropics  who  speaks  of  this  tree. 
After  describing  the  tranquility  of  the  streams,  the 
soft  murmurs  with  which  they  trickle  through  the 
grass,  the  verdure  with  which  they  endow  the  plants, 
this  eloquent  author  continues :  "But  when  the  silence 
of  nature  is  broken  by  these  violent  hurricanes,  which 
too  often  in  the  torrid  zone  blast  all  the  hopes  of  the 

,[58] 


OF  m 


^^£^^9- 


Photograph  by  Mr.  H.  Lang 


Figure  2 

A  CANNON-BALL  TREE 

IN  THE  BOTANIC  GARDENS,  GEORGETOWN,    B.    G. 


Tr' 


Figure  8 
A   FLOWER   OF   THE  CANNON-BALL   TREE 


The  Cannon-Ball  Tree  3 

cultivator,  you  may  hear  the  report  of  the  fruit  of 
the  cannon-ball  tree,  whose  bursting  produces  an  oft- 
repeated  echo,  and  resembles  the  rolling  fire  of  a  dis- 
charge of  artillery."  On  the  strength  of  the  name 
the  vivid  imagination  of  the  writer  ascribes  the  qual- 
ities of  ordnance  in  action  to  the  fruit  of  this  mock 
munitions  tree. 

The  peculiar  position  of  the  flowers  around  the 
lower  part  of  the  trunk  is  characteristic  of  many  other 
tropical  forest  trees,  among  these  the  related  Anchovy 
Pear-  and  the  well-known  Cacao  tree^  In  both  of 
these  the  flowers  spring  directly  from  buds  formed  by 
the  deeper  layers  of  the  bark.  In  the  cannon-ball  tree, 
branches  which  have  no  direct  connection  with  the 
wood  of  the  tree  grow  out  from  the  bark  and,  increas- 
ing in  length,  bear  the  flowers  from  year  to  year,  for 
many  years.  Distinct  as  these  are  from  the  foliage 
branches,  it  happens  occasionally  that  one  of  the 
fruiting  limbs  also  puts  forth  leaves. 

The  cannon-ball  tree  was  first  described  by  the 
pioneer  botanist  Aublet  in  French  Guiana.  It  grows, 
however,  in  the  other  Guianas  also,  in  fact,  in  places 
over  the  entire  northern  part  of  South  America  from 
Brazil  to  Central  America  and  in  the  lesser  Antilles. 
More  than  half  a  dozen  species  are  recognized.  A 
single  tree  of  this  kind  exists  in  the  United  States, 
having  been  planted  at  Fort  Meyers,  Florida,  where 
it  grows  outside  of  the  tropics  better  than  might  be 
expected. 

THE     BRAZIL-NUT    TREES. 

The  hard-shelled  triangular  seeds  known  as  Para 
or  Brazil-nuts  are  produced  by  trees  nearly  related  to 
the  cannon-ball  tree.    The  Brazil-nut  trees*  are  among 


2.  Grias  cauliflora  L. 

3.  Theobroma  Cacao  L. 

4.  Two  species,  Bertholletia  excelsa  H.B.K.  and  B.  nobilis  Miers. 

[59] 


4  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

the  giants  of  the  South  American  forest.  Raising 
their  convex  crowns  to  a  height  of  sometimes  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  or  more,  they  tower  over  the  sur- 
rounding vegetation  of  the  riverbanks.  Their  thick 
cyhndrical  stems  are  straight  and  barely  taper  for 
seventy  to  a  hundred  feet  from  the  ground,  at  which 
height  the  branches  begin  to  spread. 

The  fruits  of  the  Brazil-nut  trees  resemble  can- 
non-ball fruits  of  small  to  medium  size,  but  have  a 
much  thicker  v/oody  shell.  Each  fruit  contains  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-four  closely  packed  seeds  ("nuts"). 
Unlike  the  cannon-ball  fruits  they  grow  in  a  more 
ordinary  manner  on  the  smaller  branches  in  the  lofty 
top  of  the  trees.  Richard  Spruce,  the  botanist  of  the 
Amazon,  met  an  old  gentleman,  Don  Diego,  who  re- 
membered Humboldt  and  Bonpland  and  recounted 
their  difficulty  in  procuring  the  flowers  of  the  Juvia'' 
or  Brazil-nut  tree,  for  which  they  offered  an  ounce 
of  gold.  The  fruits  can  be  collected  only  when  they 
fall  to  the  ground  on  ripening.  Although  the  cannon- 
ball  fruit,  in  spite  of  the  name,  never  functions  as  a 
projectile,  the  Brazil-nut  fruits,  are  dreaded  as  bombs. 
Their  weight  is  not  inconsiderable  and  the  momentum 
acquired  by  them  as  they  drop  is  so  great  that  the 
fruit  becomes  imbedded  in  the  ground. 

The  collecting  of  Brazil-nuts  is  performed  mostly 
by  Indians,  who  at  the  proper  seasons  make  their  way 
in  canoes  up  the  rivers  on  the  banks  of  which  these 
trees  grow.  On  account  of  falling  fruits  the  work  is 
somev/hat  hazardous,  but  to  protect  themselves  the 
collectors  wrap  their  heads  with  skins  of  the  common 
howler  monkey  or  provide  themselves  with  wooden 
bucklers  which  they  hold  over  their  heads  while  gath- 
ering the  fallen  fruits  and  digging  them  from  the 


5.  The  name  by  which  these  trees  are  known  on  the  Orinoco. 
The  Brazilians  call  them  "Castanheiras"  or  chestnut 
trees,  the  seeds  "Castanhas"  or  chestnuts. 


[60] 


The  Cannon-Ball  Tree  5 

ground.  The  extremely  hard  shell  of  the  fruit  yields 
to  a  few  blows  of  an  ax  and  the  nuts  are  gathered  into 
baskets  with  which  the  canoes  are  filled. 

The  large  rodents  of  the  region  are  able  to  open 
the  fallen  fruits  by  means  of  their  powerful  incisor 
teeth,  especially  after  decay  has  partly  softened  the 
shell.  The  larger  monkeys,  who  are  also  fond  of  the 
seeds,  are  said  sometimes  to  seize  the  favorable  mo- 
ment to  drive  the  rodents  away  and  to  snatch  the 
coveted  contents  for  themselves. 

The  Brazil-nut  trees,  of  which  two  species  are 
recognized,  grow  in  Guiana,  in  Venezuela  and  in  Bra- 
zil. Most  of  the  nuts  which  appear  in  the  northern 
markets  come  from  the  Amazon  region  above  the  Rio 
Negro,  and  are  sent  to  Para.  Since  the  decline  of  the 
South  American  rubber  industry  they  form  perhaps 
the  most  important  article  of  export  of  this  city  on 
the  Equator. 

THE  MONKEY  POTS. 

Both  of  the  trees  described  above  belong  botan- 
ically  to  the  family  of  the  monkey  pots.*^  which  has 
many  other  representatives  in  the  South  American 
rain-forest  region.  The  name  monkey  pots  has  refer- 
ence to  the  characteristic  shape  of  the  fruit,  which  is 
like  a  vase  or  small  urn  with  the  opening  neatly  closed 
by  a  lid.  The  seeds  are  packed  within  these  containers, 
more  or  less  after  the  manner  of  Brazil-nuts.  There 
are  many  species  of  monkey  pot  trees  and  bushes,  dif- 
fering from  each  other  in  the  particular  size  and 
configuration  of  their  fruits  as  well  as  in  various  other 
respects. 

The  best  known  of  all  is  the  Great  Monkey  Pot 
Tree"  which  in  size  is  second  only  to  the  Brazil-nut 


6.  {Lecythidacese,  from  the  Greek  \r]Kvdo<;,  oil-vase). 

7.  Lecythis  grandiflora  Aubl.     The  Brazilian  name  for  the  tree 

is  "castanheira  de  macaco",  monkey  chestnut  tree. 

[61] 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

trees.  Its  fruits  measure  six  to  seven  inches  in  diam- 
eter. The  lid  closing  this  seed  pot  becomes  detached 
at  maturity  while  the  fruits  still  hang  on  the  trees, 
affording  a  feast  for  parrots  and  monkeys  who  fight 
over  the  seeds.  "The  battle-cry  of  both  of  these  ani- 
mals then  resounds  far  and  wide  in  the  forest",  says 
the  botanist-traveler  Ave-Lallemant.  The  seeds  are 
called  monkey  chestnuts. 

The  most  important  of  the  other  species  of 
monkey  pots  are  the  Sapucaya^  trees,  yielding  the 
"nuts"  known  by  this  name,  which  are  occasionally 
to  be  seen  in  our  northern  fruit-shops.  They  are  never 
as  abundant  as  Brazil-nuts,  largely  for  the  reason  that 
the  falling  fruits  become  scattered  on  the  ground  and 
therefore  are  not  easily  obtained  in  large  quantities. 
The  native  collector,  besides,  must  compete  with  ro- 
dents and  peccaries  and  with  boring  beetles. 

A  flowering  branch  of  a  Guiana  tree  of  the 
monkey  pot  family  is  shown  in  figure  5. 

The  fruits  of  other  members  of  the  family  are 
known  as  monkey's  drinking  cups,  monkey  pipe,  water 
case,  etc.  The  bark  and  bast  of  some  is  used  for 
cordage  and  caulking  material.  At  least  one  species" 
furnishes  a  common  substitute  for  cigarette  paper. 

A  story,  for  the  truth  of  which  only  one  well 
familiar  with  the  behavior  of  wild  monkeys  could 
vouch,  relates  to  the  use  alleged  to  be  made  of  such 
fruits  for  the  capture  of  these  animals.  Being  in- 
ordinately fond  of  the  nuts  of  some  monkey  pots, 
monkeys  will  readily  insert  the  hand  into  an  open  fruit 
used  as  bait.  Being  also  greedy  by  nature,  they  will, 
if  at  all  apprehensive  of  disturbance,  quickly  seize  the 
largest  possible  handful,  in  fact,  too  many  nuts  to  ex- 


8.  Lecythis  Amazonii  Mart,  and  several  other  species. 

9.  Eschweilera  corrugata  Miers,   the   so-called  hill   variety  of 

"Kakeralli",  or  "Wena"  of  British  Guiana. 

[62] 


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Figure  5 
GUSTAVIA 

{Gustavia  augusta) 


The  Cannon-Ball  Tree  7 

tract  at  one  time  through  the  orifice  of  the  fruit.  Un- 
willing even  in  the  face  of  danger  to  release  their  hold 
they  become  victims  of  their  stubborn  greed  and  are 
easily  captured. 

RELATIVES  IN  THE  EASTERN  TROPICS. 

Other  members  of  this  tropical  family  are  found 
in  the  eastern  hemisphere.  These  are  mostly  smaller 
trees  and  differ  widely  from  any  already  mentioned. 
Their  fruits  and  flowers  would  scarcely  be  recognized 
as  related  to  the  monkey-pots  by  those  uninitiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  botanical  classification  or  famil- 
iar only  with  the  western  forms.  The  principal  ones 
are  the  African  Napoleavxi,  Emperor  Napoleon's 
flower,  of  the  Niger  and  adjacent  country,  and  the 
Barringtonias  of  the  Indo-Malayan  region. 

Of  the  latter  there  are  many  species,  scattered 
over  a  wide  area  extending  from  East  Africa  and  In- 
dia, over  the  islands  of  the  East  Indian  Archipelago 
and  of  Oceanica,  even  to  Australia.  The  one  figured 
here  is  typical.  It  grows  in  the  river-forests  of  the 
Moluccas.  Floating  Barringtonia  fruits  are  familiar 
objects  of  the  tidal  drift  in  the  oriental  tropics.  They 
are  pyramidal  in  shape,  with  four  bulging  faces  and 
rounded  edges,  of  a  tan-colored  leathery  exterior,  and 
light  as  cork.  The  single  large  seed  within  begins  to 
germinate  early  and  is  usually  in  an  advanced  stage 
of  development  when  the  fruit  floats  out  to  sea.  The 
ground-up  seedlings  thrown  in  the  water  serve  the 
natives  as  fish-poison. 

The  flowers  of  this  Barringtonia  are  beautiful 
but  short-lived.  Their  four  white  petals  and  numer- 
ous long  madder-tipped  stamens  are  displayed  only  at 
night,  dropping  with  the  advent  of  daylight. 

B.  E.  Dahlgren. 


[63] 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 


A  trunk  of  a  Cannon-ball  tree,  obtained  in  British 
Guiana  by  the  Stanley  Field  Guiana  expedition  of  1922,  is 
exhibited  in  the  Hall  of  Plant  Life,  Hall  29  on  the  second 
floor  east. 

This  bearing  trunk  has  been  restored  to  life-like  ap- 
pearance, with  the  perishable  parts  reproduced  in  durable 
form,  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Stanley  Field. 

A  case  containing  other  fruits  of  the  Monkey  pot 
Family,  Brazil-nuts,  Sapucaya  nuts,  etc.,  together  with  a 
branch  of  a  Barringtonia,  is  also  to  be  found  in  Hall  29. 


[64] 


Figure  6 

FLOWER  AND  YOUNG   FRUIT   OF  A   BARRINGTONIA 

(Barringtonia  speciosa) 


m 


